Seoul Food Souvenirs

What to buy from Seoul as food souvenirs? A few friends have started asking me this. So I thought I’d share this with all of you. There are actually a lot to buy, it all depends on what you like. My husband and I enjoy food and of course the KimChi. So we ended up buy a 1kg bag of KimChi. To add to that, we also bought a big tub of Koreas' chili paste and a small tub of soy bean paste and Korean chili flakes. These are used to make the KimChi soup and the broth of seafood tofu soup and pork soup. If you are a die hard fan of their broth, I would highly recommend buying these.

Seoul Food Souvenirs

Other food souvenir we bought was the sweet potato crisp. These were unique to me as we always see potato crisp but sweet potato was something out of the ordinary to me.

These are some of the recommended food souvenirs. There are lots of other stuff you can get from their local supermarket and wet market. So go around and have look. You may be surprised by what you can find!

Happy shopping…..

Steam Boat

My husband and I got bored of eating out and the regular meals that I cook at home. That got us thinking of having something that was easy to prepare and yet delicious and hopefully healthier that eating out. The weather has also gotten cooler with the bouts of sudden heavy thunderstorm like rain for the past week. That’s when we decided to have steamboat! It would the perfect meal on a cooling day.

Steamboat normally refers to an array of dishes where the ingredients are cooked in a simmering pot of broth at the table usually communally, similar to a fondue. The term Steamboat is mostly used in Malaysia and Singapore while Hotpot is more commonly used in other parts of the world.

Steamboat dinner

Soup/Stock Recipe

If you are planning to have fresh seafood and meats during the meal, you don’t really need to have any flavour enhancing soup. For my soup, I made something healthy and simple.

1.  2 chicken bones
2. 1 corn (cup into smaller pieces)
3. 1 clove of garlic
4. 2 litres of water
5. 3 table spoon on soya sauce
6. Salt to taste
7. Pepper to taste

Soup

Put everything into the pot and bring to boil. Once reached boiling temperature, reduce fire to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour making sure that the soup does not dry up. Top-up the water where necessary.

Dipping Sauce

Everyone has their preference when it comes to dipping sauce. For me I prefer the simple yet healthier sauce that actually enhances the taste of the meal rather than overpowering it.

1.  ½ clove of garlic (minced)
2. 4 Small chilli - chilli padi (finely sliced)
3. Soya sauce (enough to drench the garlic)
4. Sesame oil (a few dashes)
5. Coriander leaves (finely chopped).

Just mixed all the ingredients together and your dipping sauce is ready. For those who don’t like the raw garlic taste, you can opt to lightly fry it first and then mix all the above ingredients together.

Dipping sauce

Steamboat Ingredients

Generally, you can put anything you want into the steamboat. Here are some of the usual ingredients.

1. Prawn
2. Fish slices
3. Scallop
4. Clams (la-la)
5. Squid
6. Thinly sliced meat (akin meat used for shabu-shabu)
7. Fish/meat/cuttlefish balls
8. Crab-stick
9. Pin/button mushroom
10. Leafy vegetables
11. Tofu
12. Fried bean curd skin
13. Egg
14. Noodles

Scallops, Crab-stick & Pin mushroom

Squid & Prawn

Clams

Meatball

Sliced meat

Fried bean-curd skin

Leafy vegetables

Prep Time: 2 hours including cleaning

Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves: 2-3 pax

Vending Machine

I know we are all used to seeing vending machines selling food and drinks. But what I came across as something unusual at a shopping mall in Seoul was this. Check out the photo!

Socks vending machine - at a mall in Seoul

Yes you saw right! Vending machine selling socks!!! When I saw this, I was thinking why socks of all things? But I do realise that in Seoul, there are really a lot of small stalls selling socks. I really don’t know why this is. But I can only guess that its cold there and they need more socks to keep them warm! Hahaha..

N Seoul Tower

Namsan Tower in the evening

The N Seoul Tower, officially the CJ Seoul Tower and commonly known as the Namsan Tower and Seoul Tower, is a communication and observation tower located on Namsan Mountain in central Seoul, South Korea.

Built in 1969, and at a cost of approximately $2.5 million, it was opened to the public in 1980. Since then, the tower has been a landmark of Seoul and measures 236.7 m (777 ft) in height (from the base) and tops out at 479.7 m (1,574 ft) above sea level.

Many visitors ride the Namsan cable car up the mountain, and then walk to the tower. The tower features a gift shop and restaurants on the ground floor. Visitors may go up the tower for a fee. There are four observation decks (the 4th observation deck, which is the revolving restaurant, rotates at a rate of one revolution every 48 minutes), as well as gift shops and two restaurants. Most of the city of Seoul can be seen from the top. Close to N Seoul Tower is a second lattice transmission tower.

At the tower you would also see thousands of love padlocks, a custom by which padlocks are affixed to a fence by sweethearts to symbolize their everlasting love.

Access by taxi or car is prohibited. So you will need to walk, take a bus or cable car. I would suggest the cable car so that you can enjoy the luscious and pleasant view of the surrounding. From Myeongdong Station, it its a 10minute walk to the cable platform.

Fare: Round-trip - 6,300 won;   One-way - 4,800 won
Hours: 10am - 10.30pm

Directions:
1. Take subway line 4 to Myeongdong Station
2. Take exit 3 from the station
3. Take the wide road next to the convenience store
4. Walk straight to the left of Pacific Hotel
5. Continue walking through the commercial quarter until you reach a small stairway
6. Walk up the stairway
7. Continue walking by the restaurants on your right
8. Keep walking up in the direction of Mt Namsan
9. There is a vacant lot on your right and you will find the cable car platform
10. Buy a ticket at the booth on the 3rd floor and take the cable car on the 4th floor.

Au Petit Salut

Au Petit Salut

It was out 5^th wedding anniversary and my husband decided to bring me to somewhere romantic for dinner. Au Petit Salut! An award winning restaurant nestled on a hillock at Harding Road.

Squid

The restaurant boasts extensive selection of duck, beef, lamb, seafood and a fair selection of traditional French desserts as well. Crème Brulee, Souffle, melted Valrhona chocolate and profiteroles are some of the all time favourites.

Pan seared duck foie gras

The restaurant offers both al fresco and indoor setting. The ambience and service of the restaurant is a bit less than a fine-dining restaurant. The restaurant offers both set menu and ala cart. The food was absolutely delicious! I definitely recommend all to have a go at this. But mind you the price tag is quite hefty of about $100 per person if you take a 3 course. Do remember to make a reservation if you don’t want to be disappointed. Enjoy!

Hand-made pasta with lobster tail

Confit duck leg - signature dish

Souffle with chocolate truffle

Address: 40C Harding Road, Singapore 249548

Telephone: (65) 64751976

Special Green Bean Dessert with Gula Melaka & Durian

Green beans with gula melaka & durian

It’s one of those days when you crave for something sweet to eat and I happen to have leftover durian sitting in the fridge.  So I decided to make my special green bean dessert with gula Melaka and durian. This is a recipe passed on from my dad. Yes, you read right. My dad is the cook of the family!! Every member of my dad’s family can cook. They all take over my late grandmother who was a glorious and talented cook. And I guess I took after my dad, the passion and love for cooking. But I must admit that I am not as good as them.

Ready to eat

Nevertheless, this is a fairly simple recipe. My husband said it was good. He’s never tried this before and even suggested that I share this recipe with everyone out there. So that’s what I’m doing now. Hope you all enjoy it as much.

Start of a new adventure!

Hi!

This is my first time blogging. Blogging seems to be part of most people's lives nowadays. And I thought to myself one day... "Its probably time for me to try a hand on it. Who knows what I will achieve from it?" So here it goes....

I hope what I write is interesting enough for all to read. Maybe even be of some help to some one out there looking for some tips or information. I know I have always resorted to someone's blog for this and have always been grateful for the shared information.

I'll be penning down all my lil' adventures in life... Happy reading!!